PRUNING. 



167 



der the trees permanently dwarfish, and as un- 

 sightly when standing as they are inapplicable to 

 any purpose of utility when cut down. 



But it may be asked, How are we to know the 

 exact number of branches that may be removed with 

 safety in any given circumstances ? Never, it is 

 answered, displace any which have not already got, 

 or seem in immediate danger of getting, the upper- 

 hand of the leader. These will be known by their 

 equalling, or approaching the leader in size ; or, to 

 speak less ambiguously, by their being of the same, 

 or nearly of the same, girth at the place where they 

 spiing from the stem, as the stem itself is at their 

 length from its top. This is the plainest rule that 

 I can lay down for the guidance of those that are 

 inexperienced, and if it be strictly adhered to, I 

 think there can be no danger of depriving a tree of 

 too many of its branches. I do not mean that the 

 girths I speak of should be actually measured : this 

 would be an absurd and endless task. The eye will 

 judge of them with sufficient accuracy, and with such 

 expedition as will not in the smallest degree retard 

 the work. 



In proceeding according to this plan, the pruner 

 is not to regard, in the smallest degree, the part of 

 the stem on which a shoot is situated. If it is too 



